- Joined
- Jul 22, 2005
- Messages
- 4,360
It has been sitting there as a reminder of all the things I need to finish. Too many projects...story of my life. Story of too many lives on the forums here. After the TJ was totaled, I promised myself I would do this smart. With the money I was able to obtain a gas sipping civic, capable of going up north to visit family in Ohio and Penn, down south to Florida, and able to go to more northern and western gatherings without making me whine all the time about gas. The other vehicle, the bug out vehicle... Ideally I wanted another TJ, a 2006 model unlimited with a hard top, preferably in the rubicon package, but that cost way to much and I'm a penny pusher. I settled on a Cherokee, something I always loved however never really thought about until then. It was almost like my old wrangler, same familiar engine, axle in the front was something I've dealt with. I would have to get over the longer wheelbase, but I could have cell phone conversations with Keith without the flapping of my soft top. Plus it came with an alarm, and I leave my jeep days on end in parking lots when backpacking.
So, enter the Cherokee. I wanted to build it smart. I don't know if I even came close to achieving that here in the long run. I started accumulating gear. The first thing was of course a K&N. I put one in the civic too. I was able to get my old optima red top from the totaled wrangler and put that in.
Went on NC4x4 and picked up an ARB bumper for dirt cheap. Its large and ominous looking, may not have good clearance for rocks, but it WILL clear trees out of the way when I do odd camping activities and it clears deer from the road with minimal damage.
I then went to four-wheel parts and got 100w for the front bumper. Originally I had thought I would put all four lights on the front bumper but the lights that I had left over from the wrangler wouldn't fit. I had to put them up on top, drilling through my thule rack.
Oh yeah, I found a Thule rack in the dumpster that worked well for holding the canoe.
I spread apart the lights far enough so I could still fit my canoe on there, but I don't like the lights up on top and may move them to the cowl thingee near the front where my old wrangler ones used to be.
I need optimum light setup for snake hunting. I installed these lights on the back too for turning on after we pass snakes on the road. Normally we spot them with the big lights, after we pass em we run out in the back, dangling spot lights behind us. These new lights on the back help. They also do well for wheeling (duh) at night, lighting up camp pretty easily, and really pissing off tailgaiters. I may move them to the sides of the bumper. I find myself having to get access to camping gear in the back most of the time so it messes up the light use. I did short one out once when I slammed the gate to hard. But we were dealing with a 12 foot python in the everglades, so I'll just blame it on adrenaline. If I do move the lights to the bumper, I'll wait until I get a better bumper. I'm really hoping on one with a 5th tire carrier and will rig it to that methinks. Who knows, options for your options when one works now right.
After surfing jeep forums and asking around price wise, I decided that a 4.5" lift would best suit my needs. This thing isn't going to be my daily driver so I didn't need to worry about comfort as much, but I didn't want to make Jeepzilla with 35" tires, drool inspiring as they are. So after some thought, I went with rough country, and I've never been happier. The guys on jeepforums told me contact Jason from rough country. I talked to him on the phone, a jovial good ol boy with a Cherokee himself. He helped me pick the parts and components I needed, and then some. I wanted a 4.5 spring pack to prevent sagging, and I wanted sway bar disconnects too. He was also able to convince me to get some rock sliders, a diff cover, and a dampener. It wasn't hard with the prices he gave me too, I was able to budget all that out at way less what it would cost for just a lift kit alone from other companies. I didn't see anyone complaining about rough country parts too, so it seemed like a sure deal. In the end, I still had money left for a SYE. I decided not to get one and just hold onto the money, trying the transmission drop and seeing how that goes for a while and then getting the slip yolk eliminator later if the vibrations got bad. I intended on putting super swampers on anyway (remember, not daily driver) so there were going to be vibrations no matter what I did.
So I got the packages in the mail, holy crap. The UPS driver almost threw out his back, complaining this was nothing like the normal knife packages I received. I grinned as I signed the release. One of the leaf spring packs came broken, due to UPS handling. I called rough country up and they had a new spring within 2 DAYS. I couldn't believe the customer service from those guys. UPS came by later and picked up the damage spring pack.
All this came in the beginning of December, right when I was getting ready for a snake hunting trip. Since we had five guys going on this trip down to Fla, we opted to take the okee, and for gas mileage purposes, I abstained from putting on the lift. I put the bumper on and installed all the lighting at that point, and put the diff cover on for chits and giggles. Cherokee did FANTASTIC for a ride on the trip, everything basically worked great, some lighting issues but nothing we couldn't fix. Didn't wheel too hard down there but did get to play. Got back, went on trips just about every weekend or so, seeing family and helping the Dad build the house. All in the mean time, the lift sat there taunting me with promise of wheeling fun. OK, I couldn't wait anymore, the days were getting longer and the weather, better to work on and hotter. I set a whole weekend aside and got to it.
Diff cover
it looks bad a$$...:thumbup:
